happy at the sound of your voice
by theonceandfuturekiki
Summary: After weeks locked in a cell, Captain Hook gets a visitor.


In all his time as an outlaw, Killian Jones had never spent an extended amount of time locked up. A night or two here and there for alcohol-related incidents, maybe. But never longer than that. Never four weeks.

Until Storybrooke.

After being hit by a large piece of steel that was moving faster than a horse, Killian woke up chained to a bed in the hospital with a smirking Emma Swan standing over him.

"You really thought you were going to be quite something in this world, didn't you?"

As if the physical pain wasn't bad enough.

Killian had laid there in that bed for days waiting for Cora to come for him.

She never came.

Typical.

After a week Swan and her co-sheriff (who was apparently also her father. Sometimes Killian really hated magic) moved him to a cell in some dingy little building that actually made him miss the hospital.

"Don't you people have some form of law here? You can't keep me locked up forever."

Swan had shifted uncomfortably. "Well, there isn't really any precedent for this…"

"So you're just going to let me rot here?"

"Listen, this is as much for your protection. My promise to keep you locked up is the only thing keeping Rumplestiltskin from killing you."

He had sneered then, made a comment about not needing protection, that he deserved the right to skin his crocodile, but he knew that he stood no chance against the Dark One's magic.

So he sat. Snow White would bring him books from time to time, but he was beginning to crave human interaction. He'd trade quips and barbs from time to time with the sheriff, but then her father would glare at him. And if there was one thing he'd learned in all his years, it was to never get on the wrong side of a father.

After nearly four weeks without any real conversation, Killian was certain he was going to lose his mind. He woke up early in the morning, before the sun was even up, to find Swan standing awkwardly in front of his cell.

"Well, I can only imagine that his is going to be good…" he drawled as he stood and marched toward the bars.

"There's someone here who wants to talk to you," Emma said. Hook only raised his eyebrows in question. "I told her that I thought it was a really bad idea "

"'Her'? Well, I can say now that I'm most definitely intrigued."

Swan's look turned hard. "She said she wanted to speak to you alone. But I will be right outside. And I will know it if you try anything."

"Look at you, settling so well into the role of Mama Bear."

"Don't think that I'm above killing you."

Hook gave her a mocking salute as she glared at him and turned around, leaving the room. Though he couldn't make out the words, he could hear the sheriff talking to someone, someone whose voice was much softer and more feminine.

A few moments later, a shadowed figure leaned slightly through the doorway, uncertain.

"Come along, lass. I don't bite."

She hesitated.

"Well, I do, actually. But if you don't get too close to the bars, I think you'll be safe."

The figure stepped out of the shadows and for a moment, Killian lost his composure.

They stared at each other, and Killian couldn't tell if Aurora's stonefaced steadiness was noble bravery or just plain emptiness.

"Killian."

"Princess."

Several more moments of silence past. He wasn't proud to admit it, but the girl's silent stare made him uncomfortable. "You're the one who wanted to speak to me…"

"I only told Emma that I wanted to see you." Killian then became aware that she was studying him. The revelation made him incredibly uneasy.

"Those clothes look strange on you," he finally said, desperate to fill the silence.

"Between the two of us, I'd say you're the one who looks strange in this world," Aurora said. Hook picked ineffectively at his dirty clothes, the same ones he had come to town in. The same ones he had been wearing for over a month.

"I have a personal style," he quipped weakly. "Now, may I ask what it is you're looking for?"

Letting out a heavy sigh, she responded, "I thought I might be able to see something different about you. From the last time I saw you. That might explain why…" she trailed off, unable to finish.

"Ah, yes. 'Why'."

Having the question out in the open seemed to animated the princess. She moved forward toward the cell quickly, grasping the bars. "Why?"

"Which one, love? Why did I steal your heart, or why did I get it back?"

"Both."

"I stole your heart because you were there. You were there and I knew that it would get me on Cora's good side again. That's all. It wasn't personal."

"I never thought it was."

"Doesn't that make it better somehow?"

"No, it doesn't," Aurora said, her face showing the shock that anyone could think as he did. "If anything it makes it worse."

"How?"

"Because I only existed to you as a means to an end."

"I don't-"

"Would it have been personal if it had been Emma? Or Snow?"

Hook was confused, a state he didn't generally like. "Probably. But only because-"

"You were angry with them."

"Well, that's not how I was going to put it, but yes."

"But me… I was just there. I had done nothing to you, but you took my heart anyway. If you hated me, I'd at least understand."

Killian couldn't believe it, but the girl was making him feel guilty for not hating her. Jaw clenched, he stepped closer to her. "Is that all, then? If you wanted to make me feel bad about this-"

Again, the princess wouldn't let him finish his sentence. "Why did you get it back?"

His jaw clenched tighter. Why had he? It was something he had thought about quite a bit while he was locked in his cell. He told himself it was to get rid of the warrior girl, to make it an easier fight for him. And he had believed that, for about a week. But the more he thought about it, the more he knew that it wasn't just that.

"I didn't need it anymore."

Aurora took another eager step toward him, nearly pressing herself against the bars. "But you could have just let it go. Mulan told me what happened. She told me that if it wasn't for you, my heart would have gone through the portal and been lost forever."

He had no answer. The truth was, he risked his life for that heart. He realized that. He could have easily fallen into that portal, and without the compass in his hand, who knows where he could have ended up.

"I don't know," he whispered. He stepped closer to the bars and looked up at her face, so earnestly begging for an answer.

"Would you…" Aurora started uncertainly. "Would you have done the same if it was Emma's heart? Or Snow's? Mulan's?"

"No… I don't know."

He wished she would leave. He wished she would just go and leave him alone. He hated not knowing how he felt. He'd always prided himself on having a strong hold on his emotions, on never being rattled. But this girl wouldn't stop, and it was driving him mad. He struck out at the bars, shouting in frustration as he gripped them. The princess flinched, but stood her ground.

He took his time, catching his breath, collecting himself. He knew why. Why he'd saved her heart. Of course he did. He always had. He just didn't want to admit it. "You didn't deserve it," he finally whispered.

"What?" Aurora questioned breathlessly. Killian wasn't sure if she hadn't believed him or if she just couldn't believe what he'd said.

"You didn't deserve it," he repeated, lifting his head to meet his eyes. "In the back of my mind, even when I first took it, a part of me always knew that I would get it back to you somehow because _you didn't deserve it_."

Hook could tell that Aurora was trying to process the information, disbelief warring with astonishment on her face. "Of everyone, you were the one who didn't deserve it. You were the only one who showed me any kindness and you didn't deserve it. I don't regret taking it, because it got me what I want, but I'm glad you got it back because you're generous and you're kind and you didn't deserve it."

He really couldn't believe he had said all of that to her. Captain Hook was never that honest about anything. Especially about something that left him so vulnerable. He blamed the general lack of conversation and human contact.

Slowly, the Princess's eyebrow arched up. "You… you like me."

"No, I don't," he defended quickly.

"You do. You got my heart back because… you like me."

"That doesn't mean that I like you."

Aurora merely shrugged and the pair stood there, on either side of the bars, staring at each other.

Eventually, Aurora broke the silence. "Emma told me that you've been here for a long time. And that you haven't really had anybody to talk to."

Killian only nodded.

"I could visit you. If you wanted someone to talk to."

Hook was stunned. He had reached into this girl's chest and stolen her heart and she wanted to spend time with him every day? He was so stunned he couldn't respond.

Once again stonefaced, Aurora let got of the bars and turned to leave. "I'll stop by tomorrow afternoon," she said over her shoulder. She stopped, just before the doorway, and said, "This doesn't mean that I forgive you."

"I wouldn't expect you to."

And for the first time, she smiled. It was small, barely there. He probably wouldn't have even seen it if he hadn't been watching her so intently.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Killian." And then she was gone.

And for the first time in weeks, he had something to look forward to.


End file.
